A little background: I've been working on my jerk technique lately, and it has come along nicely. My problem (one of many) used to be that I hardly put my front foot forward at all, resulting in all the weight being placed on that foot, with me of course recovering with my back foot first to chase the bar forward. I've got that taken care of for the most part, and the weight is now distributed between my feet better, and I can recover with the front foot first.

Now: The knee on my rear leg has started hurting after jerks. Specifically right above the patella. After a little research, it seems that knee pain above the patella can be attributed to an issue with the rectus femoris. I'm guessing I'm keeping my rear leg too straight, putting a strain on the rectus femoris and my kneecap which it just so happens to be connected to.

This is all just a guess, everything I know about anatomy I learned from Google images. hah! But it actually hurts a good deal, so I'd appreciate some ideas, feedback on how to correct the problem and get things healed up.

That's a good possibility. Start stretching it aggressively, foam rolling the quad, and bending that back knee more. RF tightness will very consistently create pain right across the front of the knee cap.